Sunday, July 4, 2010 (ST 4383)

This puzzle was originally published in The Sunday London Times on May 30, 2010

Introduction

I found this to be a very difficult puzzle with lots of British or otherwise non-North American references. In the case of two clues (1a and 31a), I needed talbinho's help to find a solution even with all the checking letters as none of the possible candidate solutions made any sense to me.

Today's Glossary

Some possibly unfamiliar abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions used in today's puzzle

Appearing in Clues

Guy's Hospital - a large hospital in London, England which is the tallest hospital building in the world.

prise or (US) prize - verb 1 to lever something open, off, out, etc, usually with some difficulty • prised open the lid • prised the shell off the rock.

sounder - [Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms] noun a herd of wild swine, pigs or boars, 1410.

starter - noun 3 chiefly British the first course of a meal.

Appearing in Solutions

cabinet pudding - noun a traditional English steamed, sweet, moulded pudding.

J² - abbreviation 3 (plural JJ) Judge.

jemmy - noun (plural jemmies) a small crowbar used by burglars for forcing open windows, etc.; verb (jemmies, jemmied, jemmying) (usually jemmy something open) to force it open with a jemmy or similar tool.

keel² - noun a low flat-bottomed boat; a barge. Also called keelboat.

redshank - noun a large Eurasian sandpiper with long red legs and brown, grey, or blackish plumage.

sharpish - adverb U.K. rapidly: quickly or without delay ( informal ).

trotter - noun 1 a a pig's foot; b (usually pigs' trotters) pigs' feet used as food.

wagtail - noun a slender Eurasian and African songbird with a long tail that is frequently wagged up and down, typically living by water.

Links to Solutions

A review of today's puzzle by talbinho can be found at Times for the Times [ST 4383].

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

1a What an average singer might be soon! (8)

Even with all the checking letters, I really had no idea of the solution here. I had identified several possible solutions, but none seemed to fit the clue. In his review, talbinho identifies this as a double definition having the solution SHARPISH. In one meaning, I was to discover, sharpish is a British expression meaning soon. I would presume that the other meaning is a play on words involving musical terminology, where a sharp is "a musical note raised a semitone above natural pitch" and the implication may be that an average singer is not able to hit these high notes, but with practice they may do so in the not too distant future. Thus they might become sharpish, able to hit those notes.

As my singing abilities rank near the bottom end of the scale from where I can hardly aspire to be even an average singer, I leave it to those more knowledgeable in this field to judge whether I am even close with this interpretation.

15a Scored moderately slowly for an Italian player (7)

In his review, talbinho says "rather transparent". However, to me - although I got the correct solution - the wordplay was as clear as mud.

The definition is "scored moderately slowly" for which the solution is ANDANTE (yet more musical terminology). The wordplay may be AN + DANTE (Italian player). Why "Italian player"? Dante is an Italian given name and surname as well as being the name of a famous Italian poet (Dante Alighieri). I searched in vain for a renowned Italian soccer player (or player of any other sport, for that matter) by the name of Dante, but failed to find a likely candidate. Perhaps the suggestion is that Dante is such a common name in Italy that there is bound to be one playing in the orchestra!

30a Poles in barge provide housing for boxer, say (6)

It took me ages to solve this clue due to a couple of early missteps. The first was putting REDSTART in 17d, which turned out to be the wrong bird. The second was thinking that I needed a north pole and a south pole, rather than two north poles.

31a Sounder footing? (8)

I wrongly presumed that this was a double definition (apparently overlooking the question mark). However, even recognizing that it is a cryptic definition probably wouldn't have helped. I was overwhelmed here with unknown elements. I did not know that a sounder is a herd of swine (or, at least it was in 1410). I also did not know that pig's feet are called trotters (I always thought a trotter was a horse at a harness racing track). Here "sounder footing" is a cryptic reference to the feet of a herd of swine.

6d Hot and war-worn republic (6)

This clue has a rather unusual structure. I think the definition is intended to be "hot republic". The wordplay is an anagram (worn) of AND WAR producing RWANDA. The clue is unusual in that the definition seems to straddle the wordplay.

7d One Arabian has chips outside religious buildings (8)

The definition is "religious buildings" for which the solution is FRIARIES. The wordplay is FRIES (chips) containing (outside) {I (one) + AR (Arabian)}. I can only guess that the word "Arabian" is a reference to an Arabian horse, for which AR is apparently used as an abbreviation - as evidenced by this excerpt from the rulebook of the U.S. Equestrian Federation.

23d Etna erupts with helium gas (6)

The definition is "gas" for which the solution is ETHANE. The wordplay is an anagram (erupts) of {ETNA + (with) HE (chemical symbol for helium)}.

This is yet another clue with a rather unusual structure, with the anagram indicator positioned in the midst of the anagram fodder. However, this does appear to work as one can imagine that should ETNA erupt in the presence of HE, all the letters would naturally become jumbled.

24d Judge leaves prizes for TV awards (6)

I had expected that there would have been a massive outcry from the Brits concerning the American spelling of "prizes" in this clue. As I understand it, in Britain, prizes are given as rewards and one prises something open, whereas, in the U.S., prizes are also given as rewards but one also prizes something open. As for me, I would just pry it open.

I had thought the use of the American spelling may have been a subtle hint from the setter that the clue calls for the American "TV awards". However, visitors to Times for the Times point out that the plural of the American television award is Emmys while the plural of the European counterpart (Monte-Carlo Television Festival) is Emmies.

Happy Fourth of July to any American readers out there - Falcon